We know that strong endings are as powerful as strong beginnings. Read here about a few of our distinguished alumni or visit the Southern Miss Alumni Association for an even more extensive list of our prominent alumni. Whether in the corporate world or on the athletic field, Southern Miss has graduates affecting our world in powerful ways.

Natalie Allen ’84
Natalie Allen appears on “Forecast Earth,” the Weather Channel’s weekly program on climate change. Previously, Allen was a news correspondent for NBC News, an MSNBC News anchor, and was co-anchor of “CNN Live Today,” the network’s weekday afternoon newscast.

Charles Atwood ’70
Charles Atwood is the vice chairman of the board of directors for Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc. In this role, he oversees all of the company’s strategic growth initiatives including development, design and construction functions. Harrah’s Entertainment is the world’s largest provider of branded casino entertainment. With over 80,000 employees, Harrah’s has casinos in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Reno, Lake Tahoe, New Orleans, Biloxi and Tunica.

Bruce Aust ’85
Bruce E. Aust is executive vice president, Corporate Client Group for The NASDAQ OMX Group Inc. He is responsible for global business development and relationship management and oversees a regionally based U.S. sales force as well as global representatives around the world. During his tenure, NASDAQ has attracted some of the country’s highest profile IPOs, including JetBlue, Google and Baidu, as well as NYSE company switches including Charles Schwab. Aust has also built a corporate services business to assist companies with investor relations, corporate governance and risk management.

Phil Bryant ’77
Phil Bryant currently serves as Mississippi’s lieutenant governor, a post he was elected to in 2007. Previously, Bryant served as state auditor and represented Rankin County in the House of Representatives.

Jimmy Buffett ’69
Singer, songwriter and author, Jimmy Buffett has recorded more than 30 records, most of which have gone gold, platinum or multiplatinum. His recording, “Boats, Beaches, Bars & Ballads,” is one of the biggest selling box sets in MCA Records history and was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Buffett has written three No. 1 bestsellers and is one of only six authors in the history of the New York Times bestseller list to have reached No. 1 on both its fiction and nonfiction lists.

Gene Carlisle ’64
Gene Carlisle is an entrepreneur whose corporation includes more than 100 restaurants and hotels. The founder and sole shareholder of Carlisle Corporation, he owns and operates more than Wendy’s restaurants throughout Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and North Carolina employing more than 3,000 people and topping $140 million in sales.

James Ray Carpenter ’50, ’51
A prominent figure in the golf community, James Ray Carpenter became involved with the Professional Golf Association in 1969. He worked his way up the ladder of leadership positions in the Gulf States PGA and was elected to the National PGA Board of Directors in 1978. He was elected national president of the PGA in 1987-88, the only Mississippian to ever hold the prestigious position.

Tena Clark ’75
Tena Clark is chief executive officer and chief creative officer of DMI Music and Media Solutions, which creates nontraditional media in music technology and marketing for well-known corporate brands such as General Mills, AARP, Build-A-Bear Workshop, McDonalds and has composed the official theme song for NASA. Clark has written for film and television with credits that include “Hope Floats,” “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” “Desperate Housewives” and “Where The Heart Is.” Her work also includes gold- and platinum-selling songs for many renowned artists, including Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, Dionne Warwick and Sara Evans.

Cat Cora ’90
Cat Cora made television history on the Food Network’s “Iron Chef America” as the first and only female Iron Chef. She is the author of multiple best-selling cookbooks and has developed a global barbecue concept for Macy’s called CCQ. Cora is the president and founder of Chefs for Humanity, a group of culinary professionals working to fight hunger, provide food nutrition education and emergency food relief worldwide. In
2006, Bon Appetit magazine bestowed her with their Teacher of the Year Award.

Ralph Dunagin
Ralph Dunagin is the creator of the editorial comic strip “Dunagin’s People,” a nationally syndicated commentary cartoon that was printed in more than 100 newspapers for 30 years. In 2001, he retired as editorial art director of The Orlando Sentinel and retired “Dunagin’s People,” although he continues to work on other cartoons.

Brett Favre
Upon his retirement after 17 years in the NFL, Brett Favre held virtually all the career passing marks in the league’s record books.  Among the records held by Favre are most career touchdowns (442) and passing yards (61,655). He is the NFL’s only three-time most valuable player, and in 2007 was selected as Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year.

Evelyn Gandy
Evelyn Gandy, who died in 2007, was the first woman in Mississippi to serve as a state representative, assistant attorney general, commissioner of public welfare, state treasurer, commissioner of insurance and lieutenant governor. Her many honors included the Margaret Brent Award from the American Bar Association and the Lindy Boggs Women in Public Service Award.

Gary Grubbs ’72
Movie and television actor Gary Grubbs has acted in such films as Oliver Stone’s “JFK” and Clint Eastwood’s “Honkytonk Man.” He has worked with such established stars as Kevin Costner, Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones and Jack Nicholson. In recent years, Grubbs has devoted much of his time to writing, has successfully sold two pilot scripts to CBS-TV and starred in a recurring role on “Will and Grace.”

Ray Guy ’78
The first pure punter ever taken in the first round of the NFL draft, Ray Guy played 14 seasons for the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders. He earned a selection to the Pro Bowl seven times, was a three-time leading NFL punter, and played in 22 post-season games, including three wins in Super Bowls. Guy’s talents have earned him several honors, including being a member of the NFL’s 75th Anniversary All Time Team and being the first pure punter to be a finalist for selection to the NFL Hall of Fame.

Major General Jeff Hammond ’78, ’86
A military leader who took the lead battalion into Bosnia, Major General Jeff Hammond is currently serving as the commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad.  Previously, he served as the assistant commander for support of the 1st Cavalry Division, stationed in Iraq and as commanding general of the 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized), based in Fort Hood, Texas.

Ted Jackson ’84
Ted Jackson, Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist for The Times-Picayune, has covered assignments ranging from swamp-dwelling Cajuns to Pope John Paul II’s tour of the United States. He has produced an essay on life in the Desire housing project, a successful crack cocaine rehabilitation facility, and several stories on the city’s homeless population. Jackson also photographed a comprehensive look at the collapse of the world’s fisheries, a series that won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.

Nan Kelley ’88
Hattiesburg native Nan Kelley has become a fixture on one of the most popular and longest running shows in all of entertainment, “The Grand Ole Opry.” She is the television host of “Opry Live” and a regular personality on the Great American Country television network. The former Miss Mississippi also hosts GAC’s weekly fan-voted “Top 20 Country Countdown.”

Kathleen Koch
Kathleen Koch is a CNN general assignment correspondent based in Washington, D.C., specializing in aviation reporting and serving as back-up correspondent at the Pentagon and the White House.  In 2005 and 2006, Koch provided moving reports from the Gulf Coast during and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Her reports were featured in “CNN Presents: Saving My Town – The Fight for Bay Saint Louis,” a special that looked at the progress of Koch’s hometown in Mississippi six months after Katrina.

Margaret Loesch ’68
From November 1998 until November 2001, Margaret Loesch served first as president and CEO of the Odyssey Network and, subsequently, became the founding president and CEO of Crown Media United States LLC. Prior to that, she was the founding president and key architect of Fox Children’s Network (FOX Kids). One of the most successful and respected executives in the television industry and an Emmy Award-winning producer, Loesch is now co-CEO of the Hatchery LLC, a kids and family entertainment company.

Michael H. Magusiak ’78
Mike Magusiak has served as president of CEC Entertainment, Inc. since June 1994 and has been a director since 1988. CEC Entertainment, Inc. operates and franchises more than 500 Chuck E. Cheese’s restaurants in 48 states and five foreign countries. Mike and the management team took the company public in 1989, and the company’s common stock is currently traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “CEC.”

Tom “Bones” Malone
Musician, arranger and producer, Tom “Bones” Malone is best known for his work with the Blues Brothers, “Saturday Night Live,” Frank Zappa, Gil Evans, The Band, and Blood, Sweat and Tears. In 1993, Malone was added to the CBS Orchestra on the “David Letterman Show,” where he arranges music and play trumpet, trombone, bass trombone, alto sax, tenor sax, baritone sax, piccolo and flute on the show.

Oseola McCarty ’98
Oseola McCarty, the humble washerwoman who became the University’s most famous benefactor, drew global attention after it was announced in July 1995 that she would will $150,000 of her life’s savings to Southern Miss to provide scholarships for deserving students in need of financial assistance. She received scores of awards and other honors recognizing her unselfish spirit, and President Bill Clinton presented her with a Presidential Citizens Medal, the nation’s second highest civilian award, during a special White House Ceremony. She also won the United Nation’s coveted Avicenna Medal for educational commitment.

Sally-Ann Roberts ’74, ’76
Sally-Ann Roberts co-anchors the highest rated local morning newscast in the nation, “Eyewitness Morning News” on WWL-TV in New Orleans. Additionally, Roberts hosts “Our Generation,” a Saturday morning teen talk show that gives young people a platform for their thoughts and creativity. During her 24-year tenure at WWL-TV, Roberts has received first place awards in reporting excellence from the several organizations, and in 2000, received the Edward R. Murrow Award for reporting excellence.

Chuck Scarborough ’69
Emmy award-winning anchor and correspondent Chuck Scarborough has been with New York City’s NewsChannel 4 since 1974. He is the co-anchor of the city’s number one-rated local evening newscast. Among his awards are 24 Emmys and several awards from the Associated Press. Additionally, Scarborough has authored three novels, one of which became a CBS mini-series, and has also written articles for New York, Bostonand American Home magazines.

David Sheffield ’72
Comedy writer and Hollywood screenwriter David Sheffield broke into the business as a writer for “Saturday Night Live,” writing mostly for cast members Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo. During his last year with “SNL,” he also served as one of the show’s producers. In 1983, Sheffield moved on to writing screenplays for Hollywood movies, including “Police Academy II,” “Boomerang” and “Coming to America.” He also worked on “The Nutty Professor.”

James Smith ’65
James Smith was elected to the Mississippi Supreme Court in 1993, and became Chief Justice in April 2004. He has been recognized by Law Dragon, Inc., as one of “America’s
Five Hundred Leading Judges,” and is a tree farmer and avid outdoorsman, well-known for his contributions to deer and wild turkey conservation projects.

Robert Stewart ’64
Ret. Brig. Gen. Robert Stewart is a former NASA astronaut and retired Army brigadier general. Stewart has served in three space missions and has logged a total of 289 hours in space. He is presently employed as director of advanced programs for the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based Nichols Research Corporation.

Walter Washington ’70
Walter Washington, a retired Alcorn State University president, was the first African-American to receive a doctorate in Mississippi. Prior to his death, he was considered a role model in Mississippi higher education and nationally in black higher education and was listed as one of the “100 Most Influential Black Americans” in Ebony magazine. With his 37 years of continuous service, Washington was among the longest serving college presidents in Mississippi and in the nation.

Clarence Weatherspoon ’93
Clarence Weatherspoon enjoyed a 13-year NBA career, during which he played for the Houston Rockets, the Philadelphia 76ers, the Golden State Warriors, the Miami Heat, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the New York Knicks. A three-time Metro Conference Player of the Year at Southern Miss, Weatherspoon leads the University career lists in rebounds and blocks and is second in scoring.

Neil Williams ’75
Neil Williams serves as chief financial officer and senior vice president of Intuit, Inc., which produces financial and tax preparation products like Quicken, Quickbooks and Turbo Tax. Williams was previously the executive vice president and chief financial officer for Visa U.S.A., Inc., the leading payments company in the United States.

Sammy Winder ’83
Sammy Winder played in three Super Bowls and is a former All-Pro running back with the Denver Broncos. Additionally, Winder was the NCAA scoring champion as a Southern Miss running back in 1980 and still holds the third-highest career rushing total in school history. Currently Winder is the owner of Winder Construction Company in Jackson.